International initiatives against corruption and money laundering: an overview

Journal of Financial Crime

Volumn 12, Issue 3, 2005, Pages 221-245

  Shehu, Abdullahi Y ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG   (Hong Kong)

Author keywords

Corruption; International cooperation; Money laundering

Indexed keywords

EID: 84993073996     PISSN: 13590790     EISSN: 17587239     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1108/13590790510624828     Document Type: Review

References (58)

1. The latter are many - 1963, 1999, and so on, but the UN measures with regard to terrorist financing will be discussed in detail.
2. Remarks by Kofi Annan, UN Secretary General, at the signing of the UN 2000 Convention in Palermo on 12th December, 2000.
3. It is crucial to note that criminalisation not only allows the national authorities to detect, prosecute and repress the offence but also provides the legal basis for international cooperation among law enforcement agencies, judicial and administrative authorities.
4. Following the coming into force of the Convention, a Conference of states parties was held in Vienna on 28th June-9th July 2004 to discuss the implementation mechanisms among other issues. The Protocols on Trafficking in Persons entered into force on 25th December, 2003; the Protocol on Smuggling of Migrants also came into force on 28th January, 2004, less the Protocol on Fire Arms, their Parts and Components.
5. Pino Arlacchi, Executive Director, UNODC, ‘A Tool to Fight Crime: The UnitedNations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime’, Statement to the Opening Session of the Plenary of the Signing Ceremony of the TOC, Palermo, Italy, 12th-15th December, 2000.
6. It would be recalled that during the elaboration of the Convention, representatives of some African countries drew the attention to the need to include corruption. Also, representatives of Egypt, Turkey and Syria proposed that terrorism should be included as offences under the Convention. These countries have been gravely affected by those problems; unfortunately, most countries felt that terrorism was not an international crime problem until the recent terrorist attack on the US cities of Washington and New York on 11th September, 2001. As discussions are usually at diplomatic levels and decisions are mostly arrived at by consensus, the language of the final product is often necessarily in a weaker form than might otherwise be the case. This is one of the major weaknesses in multilateral efforts to combat these scourges.
7. Kofi Annan in the Foreword to the Convention (2004: iii).
8. In adopting this instrument, the GA noted with appreciation other multilateral instruments with similar components to prevent and combat corruption, including the Inter-American Convention against Corruption (1996); the Council ofEurope Convention on the Fight against Corruption involving Officials of the European Communities (1997); the OECD Convention on Bribery of Foreign Officials (1997); the Criminal and Civil Law Conventions on Corruption adopted by Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe (1999); and the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption (2003).
9. Decisions to use controlled delivery as a special technique ie intercepting or allowing the goods or funds to continue intact or be removed or placed in whole or in part may be done with the consent of state parties concerned.
10. In the context of North-South approaches, this chapter is a critical component in sustaining the momentum of technical assistance to developing countries.
11. The Convention is to enter into force on the 90th day after the date of the deposit of the thirtieth instrument of ratification. Any instrument deposited by a regional organisation shall not be accounted as one ofinstruments ofratification by member states. As at July 2004, 111 countries had signed and 6 had ratified the Convention.
12. The Universal Legal Framework against Terrorism includes the 12 Terrorism-Related International Instruments: Aircraft Convention, 1963: 176 parties; Unlawful Seizure Convention, 1970: 177 parties; Civil Aviation Convention, 1971: 179 parties; Diplomatic Agents Convention, 1973: 144 parties; Hostage Taking Convention, 1979: 136 parties; Nuclear Material Convention, 1979: 96 parties; Airport Protocol, 1988: 142 parties; Maritime Convention, 1988: 98 parties; Fixed Platform Protocol, 1988: 90 parties; Plastic Explosives Convention, 1991: 102 parties; Terrorist Bombing Convention, 1997: 116 parties; and the Terrorist Financing Convention, 1999: 109 parties.
13. Terrorism is difficult to define but simply it consists ofactions involving the illegal use of force or violence to intimidate, coerce, or threaten a population, often for some political motives, and so on.
14. Status information can be found at the CTC website: www.un.org/docs/sc/committes/1373.
15. The Commonwealth Secretariat has prepared model laws and explanatory materials for the 12 Conventions and Protocols, entitled ‘Implementation Kits for the International Counter-Terrorism Conventions’, as well as model legislation and explanatory guides for the implementation of all the requirements of the UNSC 1373. These materials are available at www.commonwealth.org/law/model.html.
16. The UNGA adopted this Convention on 9th December, 1999. It was opened for signature from 10th January, 2000 to 31st December, 2001.
17. It is the terrorist use ofsocial and religious organisations, and to a lesser extent, state sponsorship, that differentiates terrorist sources of funding from those of conventional organised criminal groups.
18. These include financial service surveillance, customer identification, reporting of suspicious transactions, regulation of money transmission agencies, and record keeping.
19. UN Legislative Guide to the Universal Anti-Terrorism Conventions and Protocols, UNODC, Vienna, 2004.
20. UNGA Resolutions 57/170, 56/261, 55/59, and specifically Resolution 57/292 (20th December, 2002).
21. The GPML works closely with other international expert bodies, including the FATF and World Bank to counter terrorist financing on a global basis. GPML now incorporates counter-terrorist financing (CTF) in all its technical assistance projects.
22. This is a restricted database available only to designated officials. www.imolin.org is a practical tool for law enforcement and lawyers.
23. For details on this, see UNODC website: www.unodc.org/ moneylaundering/html.
24. Langseth, P. and Shehu, A.Y. (2004) (eds) United Nations Guide on Anti-Corruption Policy, UNODC, Vienna.
25. The GPAC has advanced knowledge and expertise in combating corruption by developing a compendium of legal instruments against corruption, the UN Anti-Corruption Toolkit, the UN Guide on Anti-Corruption Policy, finalised Handbooks for Investigators and Prosecutors, WebPages and publication series which can be accessed at www.unodc.org/corruption/html.
26. IGAC consists ofmore than 15 IGOs and NGOs and it meets twice a year to review progress and identify further areas of cooperation and synergy.
27. The author is proud to be associated with the process of revising and disseminating this Toolkit. To his mind, it is the first most comprehensive, evidence-based, integrated, non-partisan document on corruption ever produced. It is highly recommended for training institutions, law enforcement agencies, the judiciary, prosecutors, investigators, and administrators.
28. Kofi Annan, UNSG, in a statement in response to terrorism on 4th October, 2002, in New York. See UN Information Service, www.uno.org/information.
29. Including, aside from UNSCR 1373, A/RES/58/140, A/ RES/57/173, A/RES/56/123, A/RES/55/64, A/RES/54/ 131, A/RES/53/114, A/RES/52/90, all on strengthening international cooperation and technical assistance; and A/ RES/58/81 on Vienna Declaration and Plans of Action respectively.
30. In accordance with its mandate, the TPB has developed the following tools for the provision of legislative and other technical assistance: The Guide to the Universal AntiTerrorism Conventions and Protocols; the Checklist of Offences and Jurisdictions contained in the 12 universal legal instruments, the UNSCR 1373 (2001); and the Technical Assistance Legislative Database, which includes model laws.
31. Shehu, A.Y. (2004) ‘Human Trafficking and Corruption’, paper presented at a regional workshop on human trafficking for three West African Countries (Benin, Nigeria and Togo), heldunder the auspices ofthe UNODC, Abuja, Nigeria, 21-24 June.
32. The Global Compact Office has already started to prepare the ground for a tenth principle on combating corruption.
33. Macfarlane, J. (1999) ‘Transnational Crime - the Problem of Corruption, Crony Capitalism and Nepotism, and the Impact of these Factors in the Twenty-first Century’, paper presented at the ICAC Silver Jubilee Conference on Fighting Corruption in the 21st Century, Hong Kong, 22-24 March, p. 17.
34. IMF and the Fight against Money Laundering and the Financing ofTerrorism, IMF, Washington, DC, 2002.
35. This joint programme measures and analyses the depth, development and durability ofa financial system, and formulates ways to strengthen it. The WB and IMF conducted 27 AML/CTF assessments from January to December 2003. The WB was involved as technical assistance provider in 5 of the 15 FATF/FAFT-style regional bodies (this will be explained below) mutual evaluations in 2003.
36. The FATF is an intergovernmental body whose purpose is to develop and promote policies to combat money laundering. Established soon after the adoption ofthe UN Convention of 1988, the 40 recommendations were originally drawn in 1990. The recommendations were revised in 1996 and recently on 20th June, 2003, to take into account the experience gained over the previous years and to reflect the changes, which have occurred in the nature of money- laundering. Currently, the FATF consists of 29 jurisdictions and two international organisations as follows: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, UK, USA, European Commission, and the Gulf Cooperation Council.
37. Although not a law in itself, the 40 recommendations outlined principles that are generally accepted by many nations and are used as the basis for creating the necessary legal framework for combating money laundering. See also US State Department annual appraisal on the trends of Money Laundering, various issues. (The 40 + 8 recommendations can be found at the FATF/OEDC websites: www.oec-d.org or www.oecd.org/fatf).
38. Some ofthese FSRBs include the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force; the Council of Europe MONEYVAL; Eastern and Southern African Anti-Money Laundering Group; and the FATF against Money Laundering in South America.
39. Members of the APG include Australia, Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam, ChineseTaipei, Cook Islands, Fiji Islands, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Macau China, Malaysia, Marshall Islands, Nepal, New Zealand, Niue, Pakistan, Palau, Philippines, Samoa, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vanuatu, and 13 observer jurisdictions as well as 13 observer international organisations.
40. In November 1997, the UNODC organised a seminar in Grand Bassam, Cote d'Ivoire, to sensitise actors in the subregion to money laundering problems.
41. The author had the honour and privilege of leading the Nigerian delegation to the seminar. Nigeria played the most critical role in this initiative because at that time Nigeria was the only country in the sub-region with money laundering legislation.
42. In particular the Abuja Declaration, 21st Session 1998; the Lome Declaration, 22nd Session, 1999.
43. In 1997, the Governors of the Central Banks of the Englishspeaking countries, namely Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Gambia, met to discuss possibilities ofestablishing legal tools against illegal money laundering.
44. This agreement details exchange of information and collaboration in particular, judicial cooperation in criminal matters. It is not different from the two UN Conventions discussed above, to which most of the ECOWAS members are parties.
45. The list is too long to be included here. The list can be accessed at wwww.egmontgroup.org.
46. This Committee addresses administrative and operational issues facing the Group and is comprised of 13 members: 6 permanent members and 7 regional representatives (a sort ofUNSC?). The Committee meets three times a year.
47. The OECD is comprised of 30 member states: namely, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, UK and USA.
48. This bias to protect the economic and political systems in the European countries may not be an effort that could be generalised. At best it can be said that all members ofthe OECD are fairly developed; therefore the patterns ofcorruption in those societies may not be the same with other less developed countries. This initiative could be criticised because it tends to deal with the problem of corruption in a restrictive way, ie focusing on bribery of foreign officials.
49. Heimann, F. (1997) ‘Combating International Corruption: The Role of the Business Community’, in K. N. Elliot (ed.) Corruption and the Global Economy, Washington: Institute for International Economics, p. 129.
50. For details, see Langseth and Shehu, ref. 29 above.
51. Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, UK, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and the USA.
52. With thejoining often additional members, the Organisation now has 25 members.
53. Storcbeck, J. (2002) ‘The Hiding of Wealth’, Journal of Financial Crime, Vol. 9, No. 4, pp. 372-379.
54. It will enter into force upon the 15th ratification.
55. For example, the 1990 Declaration on the Fundamental Changes Taking Place in the World and Their Implications for Africa; the 1994 Cairo Agenda for Action Re-launching Africa's Socio-economic Transformation; and most importantly, the 37th ordinary session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the OAU held in Lusaka, Zambia, in July 2001, as well as the declaration adopted by the first session of the Assembly of the Union held in Durban, South Africa, injuly 2002, relating to the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), which calls for the setting up ofa coordinated mechanism to combat corruption effectively.
56. Pieth, M. (2003) ‘The Private Sector Becomes Active: The Wolfsberg Process’, Basel.
57. It has been argued that the term ‘politically exposed persons’ does not reflect the risk from this area as many people who are exposed or vulnerable to corruption may not be ‘politically exposed’. Thus, it is recommended that the definition of the term be broadened to encompass all categories ofpersons at risk.
58. See Report ofthe AdHoc Committee on the Elaboration ofa Convention against Transnational Organised Crime on the work of its first-eleventh sessions, UNODC, Vienna, 2000.